Herzog; Jews Must Act Decisively

Chaim Herzog, Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations, declared last night that Jews must act decisively to defend Israel and the Jewish people against attacks in the UN and elsewhere. He said the response of Jews to Mexico’s vote for the UN General Assembly’s anti-Zionist resolution was the reason that Mexican Foreign Minister Emilio Rabasa placed a wreath at the tomb of Theodor Herzl in Jerusalem this week.

Herzog’s remarks, made to some 600 Jewish leaders attending a dinner at the New York Hilton ending the 61st annual meeting of the Joint Distribution Committee, was an apparent reference to the cancellation by American Jewish organizations and individuals of scheduled trips to Mexico.

The Israeli Ambassador, while declaring that the UN has become the “world center of anti-Semitism” with an almost daily barrage of anti-Israel statements and resolutions, warned his listeners “not to allow the automatic majority against Israel to blind us to the fact that we are not alone” in the UN. He said there were about 55 countries who will support Israel.

DEFENDS ISRAELI RAIDS

Herzog strongly defended Israel’s raids against terrorist bases in Lebanon. He said if civilians are killed in these raids it is the fault of the terrorists who place their bases amidst the civilians and those who allow the terrorists to set up bases. “The UN has not had the courage to condemn terrorism,” Herzog noted, but they are willing to condemn Israel’s defense against terrorism.

Reiterating Israel’s refusal to negotiate with the Palestine Liberation Organization, Herzog said that the Soviet Union and “extreme” Arab countries want to move Mideast negotiations from the Geneva conference to the Security Council to destroy the progress that has been made in the Mideast and to attempt to impose a Soviet-Arab solution on Israel. Earlier in the day, the delegates to the JDC meeting adopted a $33,335,000 budget for 1976.